Star Wars fans have plenty of media to consume these days. From The Clone Wars to Ahsoka, there's no shortage of new Star Wars content on Disney Plus or in literature. This is considerably different from the state of the galaxy far, far away only a decade or two ago. Unfortunately, it seems that every new project ties into the prequel era of Star Wars. It's almost as if Lucasfilm feels it needs to continually make up for the prequel trilogy's flaws.
A conclusion to The Clone Wars was necessary, but Dave Filoni's love letter to the franchise within Bad Batch wasn't. That's not to say none of it is good. A story can be good without being necessary. The point is that Star Wars projects should be strong enough to stand on their own without all the fan service and prequel tie-ins. Right now, Star Wars has a prequel problem.
ET's Star Wars Cameo, Explained
Before ET crash-landed on earth, his people were part of the Galactic Republic a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
There's an Imbalance
There's no doubt that Star Wars' prequel era was significant and turned the rebellion era into what it was. And yes, there is a need for characters to reference the events of the prequel era. However, when is it too much? Lucasfilm showed fans an entirely new era of Star Wars, and it's receiving little to no love from the production company. Whether fans like the sequel trilogy or not, there's an entire galaxy of stories ripe for exploration in that time period. The next project in that era is The New Jedi Order, which has no release date.
Instead, fans are seeing the gap between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens filled, which has the potential to improve the sequel trilogy much like The Clone Wars did for the prequel trilogy. At least The Clone Wars took place during the prequel trilogy. The only TV series fans that received set during the sequel era was Star Wars: Resistance, but that lasted for an entire two blinks of the eye. Some comics delved a little more into Ben Solo's turn to the Dark Side, but it's underwhelming compared to everything related to the prequel era.
From The Clone Wars to Tales of the Jedi, there's no shortage of attention for the prequels. That's just considering television, too. The number of books, comics, and other media is even more extensive. Meanwhile, there's an entire gap between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker for Filoni, Favreau, or other creators to explore. It's more likely that exploring that period of time would do more to elevate the sudden appearance of Palpatine and potentially shift the perspective of The Rise of Skywalker in a more positive light.
Then there's the High Republic era, which is only present in novels and some comic books. The Jedi: Survivor game made mention of the High Republic, but if someone isn't an avid reader, they have no knowledge of this era. It seems Lucasfilm wants to make this era its next big thing, so it should focus on doing so. The High Republic would be refreshing compared to the saturation of prequel material. The prequel era should be left in the past.
Darth Vader/Anakin is Cool, But...
Darth Vader is one of the greatest characters in all of Star Wars. There's no denying that. He's a tragic character who succumbed to the manipulations of the Dark Side only because he wanted to save the people he loved. He didn't want power to rule, unlike Sheev Palpatine. The prequel trilogy showed fans just how tragic he was and The Clone Wars further built on his backstory as a hero within the Galactic Republic. However, it's time to use other characters to excite fans.
Dave Filoni is doing a great job building up Grand Admiral Thrawn as a formidable antagonist. Thrawn was a fantastic character long deserving of a live-action appearance long before Disney acquired Lucasfilm. However, filmmakers still rely on using Anakin and Vader to draw in viewership, despite his appearance being unnecessary to the overarching story of the project.
Take Rogue One, for example. Vader's scene in which he massacred a platoon of rebels is arguably one of the best in the movie — maybe the most iconic in the franchise. However, his presence in the movie fell flat. His role in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, on the other hand, progressed the plot in a way that couldn't have happened without his presence. His appearance in the Jedi: Fallen Order game was unnecessary. His addition to the game was purely fan service; the Inquisitors were more than enough.
Not everything needs to include Vader to make it better. Characters and storylines should be able to stand on their own to survive. Filmmakers and writers should aim to write stories that excite fans without fan service.